


Special Price

by pulchramors



Category: Persona 5, Persona Series
Genre: Angst, Blood and Injury, Gen, Healing Magic, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kinda, Mild Gore, Whump, refernces to persona 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-12
Updated: 2020-07-12
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:54:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25218076
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pulchramors/pseuds/pulchramors
Summary: How did Akechi survive so long without any healing spells and the one time Trish -almost, maybe- cared about something other than money.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 35





	Special Price

**Author's Note:**

> Why did I even think up of this? Honestly, no idea. Blame the painkillers. Trish is probably out of character, but in my defense, I don't remember her having much character other than "MONEY >:3C"
> 
> So, my wisdom tooth is fucked up. I managed to do a bad one-shot for Ryuji's birthday -which came shorter that I wanted- because I've been on really strong painkillers. I'm finally getting it out in a few days, however, I'm still a little loopy and probably will be for a while, so I'm writing random stuff instead of working on already ongoing projects. Also those painkillers either make me strong af or make me not control my strength because I snapped an icetray in half by accident today and I didn't know I could do that even on purpose!! (°△°|||)︴
> 
> On the plus side, I kinda made a tumblr -more like dug up an old side blog- where I have been rambling the last few days. Feel free to come scream at me (and read my rambling) there if you want! : https://pleasant-boi.tumblr.com/
> 
> If you want to skip the character death stuff, stop at "It was cold." nearing the end.
> 
> TW: There is implied child abuse, because Akechi's horrible childhood tm, the really bad stuff (mild gore) are near the end with the character death thing. There's descriptions of blood, gunshot wounds, burned skin and entrails. 
> 
> Sorry if there are any mistakes, English isn't my native. If you spot any let me know! (>.<)

" _Dammit_!" Akechi barely made it out of the fight, managing to - _finally_ \- kill off the shadow with a last-minute shot that thankfully didn't miss as he fell to his knees. He was getting way better at aiming at least. He took deep breaths, scrambling back slowly to lean against the wall, closing his eyes. His persona had a sensing ability or something similar so at least he didn't have to worry about keeping his eyes open as everything spun around him, the gaudy interior and the slight sway of the ship making nausea that came with a hit to the head he didn't manage to evade worse. _So much worse._ His sides hurt too. Hopefully, he didn't break his ribs. Sure, injuries got better after patching them up and leaving the metaverse but did not disappear completely - unless he blackmailed a shadow to heal him with some kind of magic some of them seemed to have, but that wasn't an option at his state.

A cut or a bruise he could explain. A broken limb maybe. But ribs? Definitely harder to come up with something and he could only hide it for so long. At least no one really cared about him, so as long as it was a half-plausible excuse he could get away with it. He didn't expect to get a break, even with broken ribs, so keeping up with part-time jobs and school would be a pain. Not to mention that it would take at least a month to heal - and not even completely, just to get to the point that he could mostly move without feeling like dying. 

Broken ribs took at least 2 months to heal completely. 

He didn't want to have to go through _that_ again. 

He punched the floor. At this rate, he would never reach Shido. He couldn't even get past most of the shadows for fucks sake. 

Hiding wasn't always an option - _especially with that prince outfit_ \- and the shadows usually came in groups. No matter how strong Robin Hood was, he couldn't escape completely unhurt when multiple enemies attacked. He had to conserve energy too - just being in this world was exhausting. Having to sneak in and out of the foster home didn't help either. At least it made falling asleep easier - he practically passed out most of the time, which was good because it gave him a break from the nightmares that were almost constant for years now and probably would just get worse considering he almost died before getting that power and was barely making it out alive most of the time. The money - that thankfully carried over in the real world - was a pleasant surprise too. 

He slowly got up, still putting his weight on the wall.

 _Fuck_.

He definitely broke something. _Or worse_. He couldn't tell if there was blood or sweat or _both_ dripping down his head. His gloves were already bloodied from some kind of projectile weapon a shadow threw at him earlier that had left a large gash in his thigh, so bringing his hand up to wipe the wetness in the roots of his now slightly matted hair and under his bangs didn't really tell him anything. It didn't take long to defeat that shadow after it hit him, but the blood loss made him dizzy and it took a few minutes of pressing the wound, trying not to make much noise as he limbed through the ship before he could detect a safe room to bandage it up. The battle just now just made it hurt again, the sloppily applied bandage coming loose. 

He was still weak. Sure, he could practically feel himself growing stronger but it wasn't enough - _it would never be enough, you're still too weak, something in his head told him, but he chose to ignore it_ -

He could feel a shadow coming behind him. _Shit_. If it turned in the hallway it would definitely see him and he couldn't survive yet another fight. He had to get to a safe room or at least find somewhere to hide, bandage up whatever he could and leave for today.

He moved as quickly - and soundlessly - as he could, using the wall to support himself. He stopped in the corner. _Motherfuck-_ There was a shadow that way too. 

He slumped against the wall. There _must_ be an escape route. At least a vent to crawl into until there was an opening to leave. He took a deep breath - wincing a little as pain shot up his chest - and tried to focus, closing his eyes again. 

He could sense... _something_ up ahead. It almost felt like a safe room, but it was... _Different,_ somehow. It didn't _feel_ like a trap, but it wouldn't be the first time the navigation ability was a little off. 

The shadow from behind would turn in his direction any minute now, so almost was good enough for him, but it would also mean he would have to run past the shadow ahead.

 _Great_.

So his options were: sitting here and dying or running head-on towards a literal monster that seemed to have crawled out of hell's ass to get to what could be a trap.

_Fucking great._

He gritted his teeth and braced himself. _This was going to hurt._

* * *

He barely made it, shutting the door and practically collapsing to his knees, slamming his back against it to make sure it was closed with a scream, shadow so close behind him he could practically feel it _clawing_ at his back for a second. The distance wasn't that long, but he was already out of breath and just the frantic panting made the pain to his sides almost too much to handle. He tried controlling his breathing, hands trembling as he reached for -

_Oh_.

He was out of healing items. He let out a dry laugh, clenching his hands into fists, feeling his eyes tear up. _Of course he fucking was - why did he think life wouldn't find a way to makes this even harder for him?_

"Well, well, well don't you look desperate?" To his defense, he didn't actually yelp until he managed to focus on the figure floating in front of what looked like a reception desk. Shit. A pixie?! She looked kinda different than most - _Wait no time to think about it_ \- He quickly pointed his gun at her, vision clouding at the edges.  
She laughed, flying a bit closer to him. "What's with that outfit?" Akechi almost rolled his eyes. She really had no right to talk about appearance - she was wearing a hot pink nurse outfit with a military-style hat for fucks sake. He lightly pressed his finger against the trigger.

"Stay back or I'll shoot you -" 

"You don't look like you're in the position to threaten anyone. And besides, I can heal you in my healing spring - _for a price of course_." She smiled. Akechi lowered his gun slightly.

"How about I don't kill you as compensation?" She laughed again.

"I doubt you could, especially in your condition. You're lucky you even made it here alive." She was right. He didn't know how much longer he could stay awake either.

"... I don't expect you'll do it out of the kindnesses of your heart?" she smirked, clearly amused, putting a hand on her chin as if she was considering it. 

"Hm, I normally have set prices, but since you're practically dead if I leave you be... I think I'll just take _all_ the money you have on you." She winked with a grin "Special price for special cases."

"That's insane -"

"Are you going to try haggling? I'm going to stop you there - it's _literally_ your money or your life and I only care about your money." He clicked his tongue and lowered his arm -which he didn't even realize had been trembling with the strain of keeping it up.

"Fuck- _Fine_ , take whatever you want." he let his head fall down and the fairy let out a satisfied hum.

"Pleasure doing business with you." Was the last thing he heard before he completely blacked out. 

* * *

Akechi felt _warm_. Not the like he was floating in bathwater, though he was certainly floating in _something_. It was a kind of warmth that completely enveloped him and made him feel safe and good and _wanted_ like he never thought he would feel again in his life. He almost started crying, wrapping his arms around him instinctively as he slowly regained consciousness.

It didn't hurt anymore. In fact, he was feeling better than he had _in months, maybe years even_ \- exhaustion and lingering bruises had completely vanished.

He opened his eyes looking around puzzled. A hot spring? That wasn't water - or it was some weird cognitive version of it - because he wasn't wet he realized, trying to stand up.

"Oh you're awake." A voice? Shit, that's right the pixie - She clicked her tongue. "I thought you'd have more money on you with the whole get-up. Aren't princes supposed to be rich?" Akechi smirked.

"Aren't fairies supposed to be kind and helpful or some bullshit?"

"Beats me. I only care about cold, hard cash" She grinned and motioned him to get out. He slowly did, muttering a thank you. She just hummed, waving a riding crop like a wand. " _Pain, pain go away!"_

Akechi blinked in surprise before frowning.

"I'm not a fucking child." He protested as she waved him off.

"Be back soon! I'm looking forward to getting more of your money" Akechi laughed. That was maybe the nicest way someone said they hoped he got injured.  
At least now that there was to heal himself he could make some actual progress.

* * *

Akechi groaned as he stumbled through the glowing door. Yes, there weren't any marks after healing, and the pain disappeared soon after, but he quickly learned that the longer he went before healing up, the pain just flared up worse and took longer to heal. Trish - that was her name, as he learned from another visit- smiled from her desk, waving as he limbed towards her. She signed, counting the money he pulled out.

" _Seriously_ , what are you even doing here? You're horribly weak for this place." Akechi almost hissed at her.

"That's none of your business. I have my own reasons ." Trish frowned 

"Look, this is just because I don't wanna lose a customer because _you're going to_ **_die here_** _at this rate_ , but how about you head over to that... _Thing_ in Shibuya, get stronger fighting on the upper levels and get back to _whatever_ you're so intent on doing here?"

" What do you mean? "

"You know, Mementos? "Akechi tilted his head in confusion and Trish sighed." Seriously? You don't know about it? "

" _How the fuck was I supposed_ _to_? This didn't _exactly_ come with a manual - "

"Alright, I'll tell ya. _But it's going to cost you extra._ "

* * *

Trish also appeared in Mementos, much to his relief. Not that he would ever tell her that, because he was certain she would actually _increase_ her prices if he did. She grinned as he stepped in the room.

"Oooh, is that a new outfit?" she grinned before noticing the helmet and frowning. "Did you get that helmet so you won't come in here stumbling with head injuries? _You're losing me money."_ Akechi laughed.

"Well, _sorry_ for not wanting to crack my head open -" he approached her, pointing at his face. Mainly his eye, which was bruised and swollen shut, but he also had a split lip. "How much to fix this? It limits my vision and I don't want to take any unnecessary risks." Trish hummed, hovering closer.

"That happened out of here, huh?" Akechi curled his fists, hesitating for a moment.

"...Yes."

"Well, I don't really like losing an opportunity to make some money, but _u_ _nfortunately_ , I can't help you with outside injuries." she shrugged, patting his shoulder. "This place works a bit weird."

" _It's fine."_ Akechi scoffed, turning to leave. _"This won't keep happening for long anyway,"_ he mumbled before closing the door behind him.

* * *

"You're getting better at this." she pouted after healing him. Much to Akechi's dismay, she still kept that _'pain, pain go away!'_ thing, no matter how much he protested and it still was extremely embarrassing and uncomfortable, even after almost a year later.

"And that's a bad thing because I don't spend all of my money using your services anymore?" he chuckled as she nodded.

" _Exactly!_ At this rate, I'll have to increase my prices."

"Please _don't."_ he groaned. "I need money to eat too." That wasn't exactly a lie - Between paying off his apartment - _over half of it paid by Shido, telling him it was an investment in his potential, and he hated, hated, **hated so much** just how **happy** it made him feel-_ bills, maintaining a scholarship and running around in the metaverse, he didn't have much time for a part-time job, so he basically lived off his metaverse earnings and small amounts of the money he was paid for murdering people -it wasn't like he could suddenly start spending recklessly, it would be way too suspicious and while it was probably just him being paranoid, he had a feeling he was being watched. Plus, Trish didn't need to know all of that, because if she did know he was getting paid for all this, she would _definitely_ increase her prices.

_"Hmm, should I expand my services then?"_ she pondered, fluttering around.

"I'm afraid to ask what you mean by _that_." Akechi mumbled and she chuckled.

"I used to sell ice-cream for some time too you know! It was _surprisingly_ profitable."

" _Why?"_ Akechi couldn't help but blurt out. "That sounds ridiculous." She put a hand on her chin.

"I wonder why I did start..." she hummed, before shrugging it off. "Oh well, since it turned a profit, it doesn't really matter! Maybe I'll give it a go again..."

Akechi rolled his eyes before waving goodbye, letting her to her thoughts.

* * *

"At this point, you're using this more as a restaurant than a healing spring." Trish scoffed, sitting on her desk.

"I don't really have time to eat..." Akechi mumbled, stabbing the soft cream with his spoon.

" _Still_ -not that I'm complaining, money's _money_ \- ice-cream for dinner? And you insist you're not a kid..." she laughed.

"I live alone, I can do what I want." He shrugged before putting the spoon in his mouth, frowning at the strange taste, gagging a little. " _Why the fuck do you even have spaghetti ice-cream?"_

* * *

Akechi was about to leave after being treated but seemed to change his mind last second, turning back to Trish.

"I wanted to ask you, have you seen a group of persona users around here?"

" _Hmm_..." Trish grinned extending her hand, palm open. " _Maybe_." Akechi groaned, putting a bunch of crumpled up notes on it. Trish eyed it for a second, thinking about it, staying silent, only raising an eyebrow.

" _Fuck, can you stop being so greedy for once?"_

" _No_ _pe_!" she popped the last syllable with a smile, taking the rest of his money and hovering happily. "I have, but haven't really interacted with them..." she sighed. "I'm already too involved as it is"

"Involved in _what_?" she looked like she was thinking about it for a second.

"...Nothing important I guess. _Anyway_ \- they're weak, like you when you first started this whole thing out but they've got plenty of healing spells at their disposal, so there's no point in me associating with them anyway. But their little group seems to be growing stronger each day. Their leader is kinda impressive, even I have to admit."

"I see... Thank you." he hummed.

"No problem! Please get hit by megido on the way and be back soon to give me more money!" she waved cheerfully as he left and he couldn't help but let out a small laugh.

* * *

"You're getting worse at this somehow." Trish giggled, seeing Akechi stumble in and using her reception desk to keep himself standing as he dug for the money.

"What's _that_ supposed to mean?" He glared at her and Trish fluttered her wings in mild amusement.

"I thought you'd know better by now than not running away when you hear the Reaper." she hummed, taking his money and Akechi rolled his eyes.

"I was... _Distracted_." he groaned, stepping in the spring, letting the now somewhat familiar warmth brush over him as he floated.

"You're distracted a lot lately..." she mumbled under her breath, waving her - _wand?_ Akechi liked to think it was a wand, it just looked like a crop, because the thought of her waving an actual weapon like that was unerving and she certainly used it as a wand so- " _Pain, pain go away!"_ she sung. "That should-"

" _STOP SAYING THAT EVERY FUCKING TIME-"_ he snapped at her, pressing his arms over his eyes. "-Just... _Fucking stop."_ he sighed. Trish didn't really reply until he raised one of his arms to anxiously peek at her from between them.

"You should be healed now." She just said, motioning him to get out.

" _Give me a minute... **Please**." _They both pretended to ignore the way his voice broke a little bit and she let out a small huff.

" _Fine._ But only because you're a returning customer."

* * *

"I have a request." Akechi swallowed nervously and Trish raised an eyebrow.

" _Oh_? You know it's-"

"Yeah, yeah, it's going to cost me, _I know. "_ Trish smiled as Akechi rolled his eyes.

" _Good_. Let me hear it and I'm going to quote you a price accordingly." she smirked.

"I will be joining _that group_ on some days. I - I'm acting like all _this-"_ he gestured around vaguely "-is new to me. _Please_ don't blow my cover. I'm still going to come alone on other days and _fuck -_ I'll even pay you _double_ on those, just stay away when I'm with them or pretend we haven't met." Trish hummed.

"Double sounds good. But I expect triple the rate if you slack off and don't come here alone as often as you used to. _Deal_?" She extended her hand to him and Akechi smiled, taking it.

" _Deal."_

* * *

It was cold.

_So, so cold._

He could barely keep his eyes open, suddenly the familiar weight of the black helmet being too much, suffocating him, dragging his head down. There was a pool of black ooze, mixing with blood - _some his, some that thing's that wore his face and was splayed on the floor in front of him, the perfect copy of his school uniform, torn and oozing red from its chest and while looking at the gap and the black smoke surrounding it made him gag he stared at it, refusing to look away and risk seeing its lifeless glassy eyes as it slowly melted back to a pile of black and red._

He hated how right about everything it was. In the end, he was just being used.

_What a fucking joke._

He took a shaky breath, putting a hand over the gaping wound in his stomach, feeling the burned skin around its edges, feeling _his own entrails slowly moving, spasming, splattering blood all over him._ It felt like he could pull them out and he almost did on impulse, the thought making him gag and roll over, coughing out what was mainly blood, most of it getting caught in his helmet and dripped around his mouth and chin.

_It hurt, it hurt so much-_

_"I was against the helmet from the start."_ A familiar voice sighed and Akechi let out a small laugh, regretting it immediately as pain shot up his - _everywhere actually-_ making him cough up more blood.

"He-Hey Trish." He somehow managed between coughs. She kneeled next to him.

" 'Fraid this a little too much for my healing magic kid. Told you you were going to die here at this rate." Akechi closed his eyes.

" It's...o-okay," he muttered. "...Don't care 'bout livin'." Trish fluttered her wings.

"Alright. Any dying requests then?" Akechi opened an eye, shooting her a questioning look."Since you're about to die, I'll just take whatever you have on you." Akechi slowly blinked a few times. "Special price, since this is a special case." she hummed.

"I...Don't have-" Trish waved her hand.

"Well, can't go back now that I've made my offer, can I?" Something looked amiss from her usual detached, slightly amused look. Akechi's eyes widened a little before giving her a small, weak smile.

"I see...Than-"

"So - What will it be?" she quickly cut him off and Akechi closed his eyes, letting out another shaky breath.

" 'm cold...don't want... _hurts_. _It hurts-_ "

" _Alright_. Hold on."

* * *

Akechi couldn't help but let out a weak sob as he felt the warm healing magic of the spring surrounding him. For the first time, he didn't even complain as her fairy muttered her little _"pain pain go away!"_ or the little tune she hummed after it, letting everything fade to black.

**Author's Note:**

> I took a few liberties with how the healing spring works for writing reasons shhh. I headcon that healing spells make you feel warm and fuzzy and basically Trish's healing spring is 90% magic.
> 
> Thanks for reading! (ﾉ´ヮ`)ﾉ*: ･ﾟ Hope you liked it! Feel free to leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.


End file.
